1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of printing and in particular, to systems and methods for scheduling print jobs.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer printers, which are ubiquitous in most modern organizations, permit the quick printing of stored documents. When a user requests the printing of a document, the documents may be converted to a printable form and a print request pertaining to the document may be sent to the appropriate printer or print controller. In many instances, the print request may take the form of a Job Definition Format (“JDF”) ticket. JDF is an exchange format for instructions and job parameters. JDF can be used to relay job descriptions, parameters and instructions, and can also be used to describe a job in terms of individual production processes and the materials or other process inputs needed to complete a job. JDF permits communications using both files in JDF, and/or using network messages in the Job Messaging Format (“JMF”), which is eXtensible Markup Language (“XML”) based. A JDF file or JMF message can include information that permits a printer to determine the input files, their location, and the actions to be performed.
When a printer receives a JDF file or a JMF message, the printer may use the information in the file or message to retrieve the remote document to be printed immediately, store the retrieved document locally, and add the document to its print queue—a process termed spooling. However, spooling has several disadvantages. For example, a low cost printer may have a limited ability to store jobs. Even higher-end printers with more storage may encounter periods where the spooling of additional jobs may be difficult. In other instances, the parameters for a print job may change between the time of submission and the time of printing so that originally submitted (and retrieved) job can no longer be used. Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods that facilitate the scheduling of printing jobs in situations where spooling may be impractical or unavailable.